Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Eyeshadow Dupes!

I know how very rare it is to come across a true "dupe" in the beauty world. I haven't seen many for myself, most I'd file under "extremely similar" or "you don't need both."

I love watching dupe videos and reading the blogs comparing products...before I buy any eyeshadow, lipstick, nail polish, etc., I google the color to see if anyone has taken any comparison pictures with other colors so that i don't end up with two (or more) of the same shade (that's happened to me way too many times to count).

Anyway, I spent about an hour and a half the other day watching Lifetime movies and swatching eyeshadows from my collection. I figured I had about 30 taupes, two of them had to be the same. They weren't. I did come across a few other shades that I'd be willing to say were extremely similar to each other and if you have one, you don't need both. I only picked a few to share because these are the ones I thought were truly the closest in color in real life. Enough blabbering...here we go!

First up, a nice highlight or all over lid shade. Obviously one of my favorites, MAC Shroom is a beige/cream shimmery shade. Here it is next to Urban Decay Virgin from the Naked Palette. In the pan, Virgin looks more pink than Shroom but when swatched, they look incredibly similar.

Left: Urban Decay Virgin, Right: MAC Shroom

Left: Urban Decay Virgin, Right: MAC Shroom

Next we have another gem from the Naked Palette, a nice crease shade called Buck. Here it is next to MAC Cork. I never really thought of how close these shades were but I do use them both for the same thing, darkening up the crease. They're pretty dead on. Buck looks warmer in the pan but on the eye you cannot tell the difference.

Left: Urban Decay Buck, Right: MAC Cork

Left: Urban Decay Buck, Right: MAC Cork

Moving on from the Naked Palette, we have another pretty MAC shade called Twinks. This is my sister's favorite, a nice plumy/brown/burgundy shade. Here it is next to ELF Saddle. I actually find Saddle to be more pigmented than Twinks (and it only costs $3!)

Left: ELF Saddle, Right: MAC Twinks

Left: ELF Saddle, Right: MAC Twinks

Now we've arrived at my favorite "dupe." This little cheap Maybelline trio that I've had for, oh I don't know, forever called Bronze Glitz. I'm pretty sure this is still available for under $5. This palette contains two dupes of two NARS shadows.

NARS & Maybelline Dupes

NARS shadows are so soft and pigmented and these maybelline ones aren't that too shabby either. The first "dupe" is NARS California. I got this color for more than half off when Sephora had it for sale for $9 as they often do. Here it is next to the bronze shade in Bronze Glitz. While they're both shimmering warm copper shades, the main difference is that the Maybelline version has a little more of a gold sheen than the NARS.

Left: NARS California, Right: Maybelline Bronze Glitz

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Left: Maybelline Bronze Glitz, Right: NARS California

﻿The final dupe I have to share with you is probably the closest in color in my opinion. The NARS version is from the Cheyenne duo. Sort of a mustard yellow almost metallic shade. The Maybelline is the top gold color from Bronze Glitz.

Left: Maybelline Bronze Glitz, Right: NARS Cheyenne

Left: Maybelline Bronze Glitz, Right: NARS Cheyenne

Well there you have it. My first dupes post. I hope this helped someone out there save some money (or realize you may have dupes of your own!) Now I'm curious about my lipsticks and blushes!